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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Interview with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D); CNN Projects 306 Electoral Votes for Biden, Trump Won't Concede; Interview with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D); U.S. Shatters Daily Record With 160K+ New Cases Today; Vote For This Year's Most Inspiring Moment. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired November 13, 2020 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Any of us who attain an elected office, whether it's dog catcher or President, are servants of the people. It's a temporary job. We're not above the rules. We're not above the law. That's the essence of our democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right. Thank you for joining us. Anderson starts now.
[20:00:20]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Tonight, with the pandemic raging and his last electoral chances dead or dying, the outgoing President of the United States is still refusing to accept that -- you know what, it doesn't matter.
I was about to start off tonight telling you about, you know, who and what outrage he has done today, not accepting the results, blah, blah, blah, claiming fraud here. It doesn't matter.
It's done. He's done. He's the past.
Joe Biden, for better or worse is the present and the future. He's the President-elect. So, let's start tonight by talking about him.
Today, CNN and other news outlets projected that when the recount is over President-elect Biden will be the winner in Georgia, giving him 306 electoral votes. The exact same number as the current person in the White House got in 2016, which he called a landslide back then.
No sign the hand recount, which got started today in Georgia will alter the outcome when it wraps up. It is said to be going smoothly on a bipartisan basis, despite Georgia's Secretary of State now under COVID quarantine.
In Arizona, the Trump campaign was forced to drop a legal challenge when President-elect Biden's lead became insurmountable. In Michigan, a Judge refused to block the certification of results in Detroit and debunked several allegations of fraud by poll watchers there.
In Pennsylvania, the law firm attempting to block President-elect Biden's win there withdrew from the case. On top of that, "The Washington Post" is reporting that Federal prosecutors -- Federal prosecutors specifically assigned by the Justice Department to monitor election malfeasance have written a letter to their boss, Attorney General Barr telling him they have found no evidence of substantial irregularities.
That's what happened today. That is what matters.
Now, of course, look, President Trump is still President and his spokespeople are still out there trying to keep their boss from turning on them. But there's no point in getting all riled up about it. It doesn't matter.
Take a look at this, but it doesn't matter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STUART VARNEY, FOX BUSINESS NETWORK ANCHOR: Are you prepared to say that the President -- President Trump will definitely attend the Inauguration?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the President will attend his own inauguration. He would have to be there, in fact.
VARNEY: You really think you can turn this around?
MCENANY: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What she says absolutely doesn't matter. It just doesn't. I mean, we could go into all the reason the current occupant of the White House isn't conceding, he doesn't want to be out of the spotlight. He doesn't want to admit defeat. It's not how he was raised by his stern father.
Please. It doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.
There is a lot that does still matter, however. I want to talk about that.
Tonight, the country recorded more new coronavirus infections than any other day ever. There are people right now in crowded ICUs all across the country. Some ICUs us don't have any more beds.
There's people in ICU right now tonight, fighting for their lives. Fighting for each painful breath that they can't get. People who should not be there because we should have worn masks more -- all of us, myself included.
We should have social distanced more. We should have had leaders who took this seriously in the White House. This is what matters now.
There's a kid at home right now, scared to death because his dad is in the hospital and he doesn't know if he will ever get to see him again. Do you know what that feels like? We didn't do enough.
Take a look at this graph. That's where we are right now. We are on a line heading straight up nearly. Nearly straight up. I cannot spend another second today concerned about what a grown man who lost fair and square isn't ready to accept.
I'm not ready to accept that there could be 400,000 dead Americans by the first of February. It doesn't matter that I can't accept it. It doesn't matter what I think or I can't accept. That's the reality if we don't do better.
More than 160,000 new cases today; 1,306 reported fatalities -- 1,306 human beings, our fellow countrymen and women dead. More will die in this hour and in the next hours to come.
Illinois today hit another record of more than 15,000 new cases and a record number of people in the hospital. Record hospitalization numbers for the country as well.
In northwestern Wisconsin, the Mayo Clinic says its hospitals are full, not just the ICUs, all beds -- full.
The CEO of another area hospital chain had this grim update.
[20:05:08]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. ASHOK RAI, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PREVEA HEALTH: It's well above what we can tolerate right now and still save lives, and I don't know why it's continuing to get worse from a healthcare standpoint. You know, we're tapped out.
You know, our beds are getting full. Every day, nurses are exhausted, physicians are exhausted. We are exhausted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The President spoke about COVID today in the Rose Garden and thank goodness at least he finally said something about it. He praised the new vaccine that we've been talking about all week. And by all indications, it is good news.
As for what hospitals and medical professionals and grieving families are up against, the President had little to say, not that it matters. It seems most people stopped looking to him for comfort or empathy a long, long time ago.
Of course, he lied about testing and praised his leadership, blah, blah, blah, I am not going to go into the details of his lies. They don't matter anymore. He is leaving. He is the past.
Of course, he used the opportunity to threaten all the citizens in New York by withholding the initial doses of the vaccine, blaming New York's governor and we will talk to the governor tonight and that would matter if he actually did that.
And because he always ends up doing what he falsely accuses others of, he barely even mentioned the current surge and said nothing about how to address it. Just a few weeks ago, not that it matters, this is precisely what he said Joe Biden would be doing by now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's all I hear about now. I turn on television. COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. A plane goes down, 500 people dead. They don't talk about it.
COVID, COVID, COVID, COVID. By the way, on November 4th, you won't hear about it anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, you will hear about it, because you must hear about it. While I sit here tonight, not even thinking about how many breaths I'm taking, there are thousands and thousands of people gasping for breath and we must hear them. We must do what we can to help them.
Keeping them honest, this thing the President said no one would be talking about anymore is the Biden Team's stated first priority. Now, can they deliver? I don't know. And if they lie and they twist the truth and make mistakes like this past administration, we will report as diligently and aggressively about that, as we have about this President's failures and lies.
But at least the President-elect is talking about COVID and has been all along. That matters. Wearing a mask matters.
The President is doing everything he can to sabotage their efforts, of course. And sadly, that is one thing the President is doing that really does matter right now.
More now from our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta. So Jim, this was the first time we've actually seen President Trump in over a week, first time I've seen him talk about COVID in a while.
His loss was further solidified today. The legal battles are falling apart. When is the inevitable going to happen?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, he was pretending in this Rose Garden press conference as if there's some sort of way for him to get back into the White House come January 20th. That's not going to happen.
He was even talking at some point about how he is not going to let this country go into a lockdown, but then proceeded to talk about whatever the next administration will do, almost catching himself acknowledging that Joe Biden will be taking the keys to the Oval Office on January 20th.
I will tell you, Anderson, I talked to a White House adviser earlier today who said listen, the President is unlikely to ever concede this race, but will likely exit the stage on January 20th as expected.
That is the plan at this point, according to this adviser. And this adviser went on to compare the President to the 1991 Detroit Pistons, who famously refused to shake hands with the Chicago Bulls who beat them in the in the playoffs that year went on to win the NBA championship.
This adviser said the President just enjoys being the bad boy and is going to continue to do that.
But putting that to the side, Anderson, what was sad about what we saw on the Rose Garden today, the President didn't take questions. He almost seemed to be out there to soothe his damaged ego. But he was talking about the situation in New York.
He was talking about the pandemic as if his policies are going to have some sort of effect on all of this after January 20th, when of course, that's just not the case. And he has been tweeting this evening, you know, talking about how he has won this state and that state.
We have to pay attention to those tweets now, Anderson because he is the President. But after January 20th, he just goes back to being another crackpot on the internet.
COOPER: Jim Acosta. Appreciate it, at the White House tonight.
As we mentioned, in announcing the widespread distribution of vaccine, the President singled out New York and New York's governor. You can decide for yourself what to make of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: As soon as April, the vaccine will be available to the entire general population, with the exception of places like New York State where for political reasons, the governor decided to say and I don't think it's good politically, I think it's very bad from a health standpoint, but he wants to take his time on the vaccine.
He doesn't trust where the vaccine is coming from.
He's had some very bad editorials recently about this statement and what's happened with respect to nursing homes and his handling of nursing homes, and I hope he doesn't handle this as badly as he has handled the nursing homes, but we're ready to provide it as soon as they let us know that they'll actually use it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:10:22]
COOPER: Governor Andrew Cuomo joins us now, in addition to his duties in Albany, he's also the author of "American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic."
Governor, first of all, the idea of the President of the United States withholding a vaccine from the citizens of New York. Your thoughts? GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Yes. Good to be with you, Anderson. I think
your opening point is very powerful and frames the entire conversation.
What the President said doesn't matter. It's not true, as usual. What he is going to do in April, he is not going to be here in April, that I said, I wouldn't distribute the vaccine. It's not true, but it doesn't matter.
There are editorials. It's not true, but it doesn't matter. He's talking about his friend, Rupert Murdoch.
What does matter? What does matter is this: there's going to be a vaccine, good news with Pfizer and some other drug companies. And that is good news.
And then the next step is, we're going to have to distribute that vaccine quickly and fairly, and Americans are going to have to trust that vaccine to take it. That matters.
Right now, about half of the people in this country, Anderson, say they don't trust the vaccine. That's the Kaiser poll, the Pew poll, CNN poll, a network poll -- they all say the same thing. That they fear that Trump politicized the approval process for the vaccine, and therefore they don't trust it, and no one is going to put a needle in their arm if they don't trust the vaccine.
What New York has done and other states around the country is we've said, we'll put together our own panel to review the F.D.A.'s approval process. Our panel is headed by a Nobel Prize Laureate. And that will then give people the comfort to know that they should take this vaccine.
It won't take any more time. We'll do it simultaneous. We'll do it concurrent. But to the extent there is skepticism about Trump and distrust of Trump and a belief that Trump politicized the public health process, which he did, that he politicized the N.I.H., and the C.D.C. and the F.D.A., which he did, and that spills over to the vaccine, these separate panels that states will have will give those states confidence. New York is one of those states of about seven.
COOPER: And when you talk about this panel --
CUOMO: It won't take any more time.
COOPER: Well, that's what I was going to say, when he talks about this panel, this isn't something that you have to wait until the vaccine starts to be distributed and then you're going to, you know, sit around and think about it and you know, make calls about it.
This is something that can happen at the same time as the C.D.C. and others are reviewing this.
CUOMO: Yes, of course, of course. The President doesn't tell the truth. What do you want me to tell you? But you're right, he doesn't matter anymore. What does matter is, his
lying has hurt the nation in many ways and his lying has hurt the nation in that now, half the Americans don't trust the vaccine.
And if they don't trust it, they're not going to take it. So my challenge is and other governors, how do you restore that trust? And we came up with these state panels, all top pros who will review what FDA did and the protocols and then I can say to the people of my state, it's safe, take it.
Because distributing 330 million vaccines is going to be the most ambitious undertaking since this has started.
COOPER: Well, let me ask you about that, because I was talking to Sanjay about it. I hadn't realized that I guess, this Pfizer vaccine, it's got to be stored in really, really cold temperatures, not just like a normal refrigerator. I don't know the exact, you know, Fahrenheit, but it's incredibly cold, cold.
And not, you know, there's a lot of places that don't have that kind of refrigeration. How is that going to be done in New York State? Do we know yet?
CUOMO: We don't know yet. And that's why when you talk about what we should really be focused on. Look, let's focus on not making the same mistake twice. Right?
This Federal government was totally unprepared for COVID. They were incompetent in their response. They talked about doing testing when we first started, if you remember. They couldn't figure out how to get nasal swabs.
Eight months, all the COVID testing we've done, we've done 120 million nationwide. That's with every state and all of this noise for eight months, 120 million COVID tests. We have to do 330 million vaccines.
[20:15:17]
CUOMO: How long is that going to take? Stored at deep cold? And who has that equipment? And how do we get those vaccines to black and brown communities and poor communities?
I mean, there are a lot of questions here that haven't been answered and that don't even occur to this Federal government. I do believe Joe Biden is going to be ready for the challenge, as ready as anyone can be. I've worked with him for many years. I know his team.
But what we're trying to solve now is this skepticism by the American people who say they don't trust the vaccine, which is going to be a major problem. Because on top of all the logistics, if you don't have people willing to take it, that's going to be a real challenge.
COOPER: Let's talk about New York State and New York City and how -- what you're facing now, what do you think the next couple of weeks and months look like? Because obviously, this is -- you know, and every state is different, but the trend is alarming. You've already made some moves on bars and restaurants, in terms of
the hours that they can stay open. You know, gyms right now are in New York, they're still open, they're at I think, 30 -- you know, they are allowed 30 percent capacity, I think.
I go to a gym, there's hardly anyone there. Do you see -- I mean, is the next step, you know, shutting down places? Or do you see that as -- if that happened, would that be a statewide thing? Would that be just you know, as they call hotspots?
CUOMO: Nobody really knows. But look, what we've done in New York has been working, right? And we follow the science and we follow the data. And remember, we had the highest infection rate in the United States of America, and now we're one of the lowest.
Our problem is, there's a surge all around us, right? It's high tide on the COVID Sea internationally and nationally. The states around New York all have higher infection rates.
You're in the Holiday Season, people are traveling. You say don't have groups. It's Thanksgiving. It's going to be Christmas. It's going to be Hanukkah. It's winter. I think you're going to see the numbers continue to go up.
Now New York is at a low level, but you're seeing the numbers go up and we are adding restrictions as those numbers go up. We're urging diligence. Yes, there's a vaccine, but it's not tomorrow.
President Trump is talking about April. You can't sustain an increase through April. If people think the vaccine is going to be the answer, we can't make it. That's the light at the end of the tunnel, but it's a long tunnel.
We tend to focus -- we do so many tests in New York that we tend to focus on small areas, neighborhood levels, what we call micro clusters. And as soon as we see a jump in the number, we stamp it out. That's what we call those hotspots.
We do this -- today, 200,000 tests, more tests than any state in the country and once we see a flare up, we jump on it. But I think, Anderson, you're going to see a steady increase through the Holiday Season at least and that's scary.
COOPER: Yes. Governor Cuomo, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.
CUOMO: Thank you.
COOPER: Up next, President Biden's victory in Georgia in the fight over two Senate seats there that could shape the next two years at least of his presidency. The Mayor of Atlanta joins us.
Later, someone who has seen how the President operates up close, Anthony Scaramucci. What he thinks of what lies ahead tonight on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [20:21:33]
COOPER: We're now on what we are seeing, state to state, the President obviously has lost the election. That is clear.
President-elect Biden taking Georgia today along with Arizona, which was called last night. He now has a projected 306 electoral votes. When President Trump had that, he called it a landslide and that is exactly the number that President Trump got four years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We had a tremendous landslide Electoral College victory, like haven't seen in a long time. Not only did we win the election, we had an Electoral College landslide. Okay. It was a landslide.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And then it got bigger and bigger and wilder and wilder. And then we won by a lot. Don't forget, it was 306 to 223. That's a lot.
We had a massive landslide victory as you know in the Electoral College.
This was an excuse for the Democrats who lost an election who actually got their ass kicked 306 to 223. That's a pretty good chalaka.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It doesn't matter. He's the past. He lost. John King joins us. He is back in the magic wall.
John, walk us through the loss.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'll walk you through the loss or the Biden win. Anderson, people are saying it's pretty big, the Biden win.
Let me show you. We finally projected Georgia today, a state no Democrat had won since Bill Clinton in 1992. It is now for Joe Biden and narrowly, 14,172. There is a recount underway, but we are confident this one will stay in Biden's column, not since 1992.
You mentioned Arizona last night, not since 1996 had a Democrat carried Arizona. Joe Biden leading there by a little more than 10,000 votes. Again, they are about done with the vote count. We are confident in this projection as well.
The President did gain something today. We finally projected North Carolina. He has a lead there of about 74,000 votes. Still, a few more to count there. But North Carolina, close race, but that will stay red in this.
But Anderson, when you think about the Biden victory now that the map is complete, Joe Biden said he would win back the blue wall. He did. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin and what the Democrats see hope for the future here is the map changing win here and the map changing win there.
Again 1990 to 1996, if you go back in time, this was what the President called a landslide. Overwhelming landslide, lopsided landslide.
Well, Biden's win not only was impressive in that he delivered up here, map changing and then, he took those two back. We bring that up here and as you noted, Electoral College win, you might say there's some karma in that, 306 to 232. That's the same as it was four years ago.
So if the President thinks it was a big landslide then, I guess, we'd have to say it's a big landslide now.
COOPER: And where does the Popular Vote stand tonight?
KING: It's interesting when you look at the Popular Vote. Let me clear this out and bring this up for you, clear this as well, come back here.
This is really fascinating to think about in this election, because Joe Biden now has 78 million votes, more than 78 million votes. That is more votes than any candidate for President in American history. It's about 12.2 million more votes than Hillary Clinton received four years ago.
So Biden, without a doubt can say he has a mandate, but here's the challenge going forward, as you mentioned, the President who has yet to accept the reality. But one of the things we know he will do when he leaves is he will remember this because he has the second highest vote total 72.7 million votes, the second highest vote total in American history.
He increased his vote total from four years ago. So even as Joe Biden can claim that's more than anybody ever. You know, the President is going to use that to say, I'm not going anywhere, even when he's out of the White House -- Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. John King. John King, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
Let's talk about what is going on in Georgia. We are joined by the Mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Thanks so much for being with us. Extraordinary what we are witnessing in Georgia, the Biden campaign today said they were confident the recount in Georgia would reaffirm what CNN projected today that President-elect Biden has won the state, do you share that confidence?
[20:25:22]
MAYOR KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS (D-GA), ATLANTA: I do share their confidence, and thank you for having me again. And what we know about recounts is recounts often don't favor the losers. Sometimes we see the vote tally go up.
And so with such a wide margin, 14,000 votes, that's a pretty significant amount and I trust that that recount will give people the confidence that this election should stand in Georgia.
And we're looking forward to January 5th for the opportunity to elect two senators -- two Democratic senators to the Senate.
COOPER: Yes, let's talk about that. Runoff elections for the Senate have really just begun. Many see them as, you know, proxy fight for the national race. Certainly, all eyes are going to be on Georgia, the future of the Senate, who holds the power in the Senate really hangs in the balance.
What is the -- what is your greatest concern about it right now? Because obviously, there's -- you know, some Republicans feel that the charges of voter fraud will suppress Republican turnout, some think it will motivate Republican turnout, some think that, you know, the idea of what the President is refusing to do is going to motivate Democratic turnout. What do you think is the reality?
BOTTOMS: Well, it's going to be a turnout game on both sides. And what we know is that it's going to be extremely important not just to get people back out who voted in the election just a couple of weeks ago.
But we've got to really excite the entire base to turn out and vote, and this whole notion of there being fraud this year in Georgia, other than the first couple of days of early voting where we saw the glitches with the machines and the long voting lines, we haven't received any credible information that says that there was any fraud in this state.
And so it is about people recognizing what this means to Joe Biden. People in this state turned out to vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. They certainly will need the support of the Senate. And the opportunity to have Georgia elect two senators at once is not one that I've seen in my lifetime. And usually, our Senate races don't even go into a runoff.
So we had a record turnout with almost five million voters of this election, and I anticipate that we're going to have a record high turnout for the runoff in January.
COOPER: You think there will be a record high turnout. I mean, what do you attribute the record high turnout to in the presidential race? I mean, obviously -- I assume obviously, you know, passions for and against President Trump played a big role, but just in terms of turnout efforts, voter registration efforts, what has that been like? I've heard a lot of talk about Stacey Abrams doing a lot of voter registration stuff for a long time.
BOTTOMS: Yes, it's been a combination of work across the state, and then also, we have more voter registration in the States. We have nearly 800,000 new voters registered to vote when you go to get your driver's license or renew or transfer your driver's license, you get to register to vote at that time. Our state is trending younger.
Our state is trending more diverse. So you have groups such as Stacey Abrams' groups. You have the NAACP, the Urban League, the fraternities, the sororities, you name it. Everybody has been out registering people to vote, because what we recognized very early on was there was an opportunity to turn Georgia blue.
Many thought it wouldn't be until 2022, every single opportunity I had to tell Joe Biden and the Biden campaign that there was an opportunity here, I know that I took that opportunity to do it even including what I went through my bet and I know other people did it as well.
And thankfully, the Biden-Harris campaign listened. We saw Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Senator Harris come into Georgia toward the end of the campaign. That hasn't happened in a very long time. In '92, I was 22 years old. It's been a long time.
COOPER: Looking at the pandemic for a moment, you know, many states deaths and hospitalizations are surging in Georgia as they are in a lot of places. You've obviously butted heads with Georgia Governor Kemp about how to fight the spread. What measures are you currently considering?
BOTTOMS: Well, Atlanta is technically still in phase two of advisory recommendations on reopening, so we're still encouraging people to take all precautions and also the mask mandate.
The lawsuit, the very public fight that we had with the Governor with the mask mandate, I think that's helped us some because it has given us an opportunity to educate people on masks and we prevailed with that lawsuit, so now, every mayor has an opportunity to mandate masks in their respective communities.
[20:30:30]
And back to your previous question, Anderson, I think that was part of the reason we had such a high turnout in the state as well. We were very hard hit with COVID early on, and that mattered to people.
And so, people recognize that elections have consequences and the consequences in this state was the election of a governor who made the best decisions on COVID. And we've also seen that at the national level.
COOPER: Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
BOTTOMS: Thank you.
COOPER: Up next, we're going to talk with former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci about what may lay ahead for all of us in the next few weeks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Want to talk a little bit about what may lie ahead in the next couple of weeks, not just in terms of when the President will accept reality and concede as every president before him has. Joe Biden is the future. Donald Trump is the past.
Perspective now from former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci.
Let's first of all just talk about what you see. I mean, we obviously know there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud as the President has been claiming. It's almost comical now at this point his claims, It's sad because there's an awful lot of good people out there who loved the President who believed. But it's just, it's not out there.
[20:35:16]
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FMR WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, Anderson, it's not out there. And there's probably more COVID cases around the President than there are actually proven fraudulent votes. And so, somebody should probably tell him that but you had this court case, the Third Circuit Justice (INAUDIBLE) basically ruled today in Pennsylvania, against the President. And so, I think that's sort of the firewall somebody on his legal team is going to brief him and say, there is no circuitry that we can come up with that can overturn this election. And so, I don't know what else he's going to do. There's pressure on him now. General Kelly just spoke out today, there's pressure on in the Senate. At some point, I think he's going to have to cave. It'll be an upsetting day for him, I'm sure. But, you know, he's got a cave. And I think that's coming eminently in the next week or so.
For myself, though, the thing that I'm the most worried about, is the constant coddling of him. I'm not understanding why the GOP at this point still needs to coddle them. The Georgia races just doesn't make enough sense to do this. It's creating too much damage and putting the country in a potential national security risk. So --
COOPER: Isn't it just fear of -- fear of his supporters and fear of him, you know, launching his, you know, even once he's out of office, you know, whatever network you know, media network, he develops or joins or podcast he has or radio show, he has, you know, kind of launching attacks at GOP figures and which he's more than capable and likely to do?
SCARAMUCCI: That that may be true. But as Jim Acosta said, about him becoming another crackpot on the internet or on Twitter, I do think this loss has been humiliating for him and knowing his personality as well as I do, I don't see him parading around this loss. He said, during the campaign that the vice president was the worst candidate in history. And if I lose to this guy, you may never see me again, I think that's a real tell. So, it's not clear to me that he's going to be parading around this loss. He's one of three American presidents after the Second World War that lost the presidency. You also have 150,000 -- 140,000 people getting COVID a day the cases are going through the roof around the United States. The debt totals are in the 1,200-ish level. We could be going in for more lockdowns and so forth. So, I don't necessarily see it the way they see it.
Moreover, I would say about the 72 million people, as you recall, I grew up in a blue collar family. I think these people are voting for themselves, the President may be hearing a signal that they're voting for him, but I don't see that. I mean, he is denigrated Western leaders. He's praised despots, he lied about the science of the pandemic, he lied about the usage of masks, he destroyed the U.S. economy. And I think when people frame it the right way, those 72 million people are actually voting for themselves. They're upset with the system, they feel the system is unfair to them. And they need help. And I think the Vice President's message is a healing message. And he'll produce the right policies for those people. And when that happens Anderson, their anger is going to dissipate. And they're going to look back on the Trump era and say, well, why did we need that level of aggravation in our country? Why do we need that man imperiling the world and our children and grandchildren?
So, I don't see it that way. I think real leadership in the GOP would require them to stop kowtow into him and stop being intimidated by him.
COOPER: Do you think the GOP -- I mean, you know, people talked about a reckoning with the GOP doesn't seem like there's going to be one. If, you know, if the current President is going to threaten to run again and for years and hang that over the GOP, I mean, I can imagine, you know, what must Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, you know, are they screaming in their pillows? Because I mean, the idea of that hanging over them for the next four years, preventing them from, you know, exercising their presidential ambitions. Does the GOP remain the party of Trump moving forward?
SCARAMUCCI: So, I think that would be a disaster for them. Because if they remain the party of Trump is going to be a group of people that are buying catheters and my pillows from commercial interruptions on another network, I think that will be an unmitigated disaster, they need to expand the tent of that party. That party needs to be shaped in the colorful, beautiful mosaic of the American people. And again, it requires real leadership to break away from this type of protectionism, this type of demonization, this nationalism. The people want a leader, I think they can bring them together and heal. And I think one of the mandates that came out of the 2020 election is they want a divided government. They want people to get together in the middle. So the partisan rank were in tribalism of Trump, I think is dead on arrival on January 21st.
[20:40:04]
COOPER: Do you really believe --
SCARAMUCCI: And I think if they're afraid of him, I think they're afraid of him then they're not the leaders that we need to ascend to the presidency. These guys that are kowtowing to him right now, how are they going to stand up to somebody like Vladimir Putin if they can't stand up to Donald Trump in this disaster that's going on?
COOPER: I mean, do you -- I certainly think you're probably right about, you know, most Americans are somewhere sort of in the center. And that's generally, you know, where there's a divided government. And do you really believe, though, that clearly President-elect Biden has, you know, for all the obvious reasons reached out? A, I think he really believes it. And that's what he's done in the past, but also in order to govern, he's reached out to Republicans. Do you think the Republican Party is ahead they shown any signs even by not accepting him as president-elect yet that they're willing to actually give bipartisanship a chance?
SCARAMUCCI: It's unclear right now. Obviously, Senator McConnell could go in the same direction he did with President Obama, when he called for a one term presidency for the Obama administration. It's unclear right now. I would like to think though, that these guys got very good political instincts, and they see what happened in this election, the electoral results as being something that the nation really wants bipartisanship. And of course, the Republicans have an eye on the congressional midterm elections and putting a few wins on the board may be good for that party as well. So, I hope they'll do that Anderson, because the country needs that right now. We're in desperate need of a stimulus for lower and middle income families. Obviously, we need help on the infrastructure and equalizing K through 12 education making the public-school systems more fair across the nation. So, there's a lot of room there to compromise for both parties. And I hope they do that.
But listen, if they don't do that, they're going to narrow up. The Republicans know that they're becoming a minority party. They see what's going on in Arizona and Georgia and real leadership would require them to expand the tent not do it, Mr. Trump did or the President did, which was drilled down deeper into the tent. And I hope they do that I because I think there's a big opportunity right now, to make that shift. And entrepreneurs would call it an adapt and pivot. And they lost the election. They lost it handily. It was a five, 6 million of the popular vote electoral landslide, according to the President 306 --
COOPER: Right.
SCARAMUCCI: -- so there you go.
COOPER: Anthony Scaramucci, appreciate your time. Thank you.
SCARAMUCCI: Thank you.
COOPER: Just ahead, the coronavirus outbreak that is producing new highs almost daily in both cases and hospitalizations. Also, according to The Washington Post a massive outbreak among those charged with guarding the President, the Secret Service. The physician who warned us about this more than a month ago joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:45:40]
COOPER: Less than an hour after President Trump wrapped up his coronavirus news conference in which he largely admitted any mention of the sharp surge in cases and hospitalizations. The U.S. had a new daily high in cases as it does most every day now. 160,631 cases and rising. Hospitalizations a new high today as well, 68,516, seven day average up 20% versus last week. According to a new story in The Washington Post more than 130 Secret Service officers are said to be infected with -- or agents are said to be infected with coronavirus or quarantining in the wake of President Trump's travel -- his campaign travel all those rallies. That's roughly 10% of the agency's core security team. Three unnamed sources also tell the Post the outbreak is believed to be partly linked to President Trump's rallies in the weeks before the election.
Back in early October, our next guest flagged that behavior is potentially dangerous. Dr. James Phillips was referring to the President's decision to leave his hospital bed take a joyride while still contagious. He wrote, that presidential SUV is not only bulletproof but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID-19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play. He added that every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary presidential drive by just now has to be quarantined for 14 days they might get sick. They may die for political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.
Joining us, Dr. James Phillips, Chief of Disaster Medicine at George Washington University Hospital. Also, Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist. She's also on President-elect Joe Biden's Coronavirus Advisory Board for his transition.
Dr. Phillips, sadly, you know, you talked about the danger to Secret Service agents in that vehicle and that what we're seeing more than 100 Secret Service agents having to quarantine. This obviously was preventable, or at least some of that was preventable.
JAMES PHILLIPS, CHIEF OF DISASTER MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIV. HOSPITAL: Yes, you would think so. You know, this joyride that the President took was just completely unnecessary. And what we know about the coronavirus and its transmissibility is that it's a factor of distance and time and the more time that you spend in proximity to somebody who's infected, the greater the risk of you getting sick yourself. And while there will always be a need for Secret Service to be close to those that are covered by the protective services, when someone's got a deadly infectious disease that can be minimized, particularly in the locations where he was.
And so, in order -- for him to put those officers and those agents at risk by going on a completely unnecessary trip is just a true application of his leadership. And it's also just a pattern that we've seen with him using people as a means to a political end.
COOPER: Dr. Gounder, as we noted, the number of new cases the country reports today is going to be the highest we've experienced during the epidemic so far. As a member of the President-elects COVID Advisory Board, how concerned are you about the position the country will be in January, when the Biden-Harris administration takes office? And how is that informing what you and the advisory board are doing now?
CELINE GOUNDER, MEMBER, CORONAVIRUS ADVISORY BOARD: Well, Anderson, I think we're looking at some couple really tough months ahead. I think part of the challenge is that unfortunately, the current administration has not been cooperating with the transition team by sharing information, sharing plans, and this is essentially a national security threat the way that Americans are getting infected and sickened by coronavirus, dying for coronavirus and how the economy is being impacted by the coronavirus. So, this is truly a national security threat. And I cannot even imagine another situation if we were in the midst of a war that you wouldn't have handoff of information and plans to a succeeding president.
So, I am quite concerned not to mention that we're coming into the holiday season which could well be themselves super spreader events, pouring gasoline on what is already a raging fire.
COOPER: Yes. Dr. Phillips, how concerned are you about, you know, get folks gathering from all over together for Thanksgiving and the holidays. Obviously, it's, you know, it's horrible to even talk about you know, with the possibility of, you know, families not being able do that or not choosing to do that, but it's understandable. I mean, what do you think is the risk here?
[20:50:07]
PHILLIPS: I think the risk is great. I think the planets are aligned for something really bad. We've got the cold weather where people are going indoors, we've got the holiday season with Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas for people want to gather with families. We combine that with this really unusual and unnecessary political environment that we're in right now. And then you add to it, flu season, and the fatigue that all Americans are feeling from the precautions that we've been taking since the spring. And unfortunately, I think a lot of people are going to forego masks and believe that people in their family are safe within their bubble, they're going to be at home, they're going to take off their masks, they're going to hug, they're going to share food around the table, things we all wish we could do.
And what I would ask is that people try to make sacrifices and try not to go home, try not to visit your elderly family members and bring disease home. Kids are coming home from college campuses that are open. Students in high schools and junior highs and elementary schools are going to be visiting with older family members, and potentially bringing in disease asymptomatically. Is not the time to let our guard down. Because just as we see the results of COVID spread during Thanksgiving, we're going to be coming into Christmas. And I think that what the mayor of Chicago is doing with the stay at home orders is just the first domino that's going to start to fall across the country with enhanced restrictions, particularly as we enter the holidays.
COOPER: So, Dr. Gounder, how do we prevent that as much as possible? I mean, it does again, just boil. I mean, I guess as individuals it boils down to mask wearing and social distancing?
GOUNDER: No, and that's right, Anderson, I think the mask wearing cannot be underestimated the role of that I think that's really crucial. And it's really unfortunate that that has been politicized. I would compare mask wearing to using toilet paper, it is a basic hygienic measure that should never have become a political symbol. But in addition to that, I do think people need to think carefully about how they're going to celebrate Thanksgiving. I've heard people in my own circle say, Well, I you know, I trust them. It's not about trust. In fact, it's the people you trust, and are closest to that are most likely to be the source of transmission to you.
And so, it's not that they're doing anything wrong, they may not even realize that they're infected. But these are the people you let your guard down around. And so, you're most likely to be exposed in that setting.
COOPER: I mean Dr. Phillips, you know, with this continued lack of federal government leadership, do you believe that mayors and governors should be instituting stay at home orders again, or I guess it depends just on locality and where things are at in that moment?
PHILLIPS: I think that the plan is to be as strategic as possible. We don't want widespread shutdowns that lead to, you know, economic downturn. I think the Biden plan is to be as strategic as possible. And but in cities that have high infectivity rates, I think that those local leaders seriously have to consider doing what Mayor Lightfoot done in Chicago?
COOPER: Yes. Dr. James Phillips, Dr. Celine Gounder, appreciate it. Thanks.
(INAUDIBLE) we spoke to Johns Hopkins released new numbers, there now more than 172,000 new cases just today. Thanks for being with us.
Just ahead how you can help tell the stories of those who made our world better this year. Details on this year CNN Heroes and all star tribute when we return.
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[20:57:03]
COOPER: This surely been one of the most stressful years of memory for this country when both physically and spiritually oppressive for many. To the biggest events the coronavirus pandemic and the quest for racial justice if sometimes seemed too large and systemic to defeat, but in both cases, we've seen heroes who made it their mission to make their corner of this world a little better. People we might never have known otherwise, people we need your help to celebrate with this year's CNN Heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: (voice-over): Before we never noticed the shift change, we didn't see the health care workers and first responders heading home after a long day. But now we do. We celebrated these heroes every night and cities around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's so nice. COOPER (voice-over): For nearly eight minutes George Floyd pleaded for his life. His death sparked worldwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism. After press conference, his daughter Gianna shared a hope for us all.
GIANNA FLOYD, GEORGE FLOYD'S DAUGHTER: Dad changed the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dad changed the world.
COOPER (voice-over): When the call rang out for PPE to keep our frontline workers safe, Americans responded with great generosity. The workers at Braskem America did something extraordinary. They moved in and quarantined in to their manufacturing plants for nearly an entire month to get the job done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's the team, the boys too.
COOPER (voice-over): In June, a photograph captured the world's attention. During the London protest events turned violent. One man Brent Male (ph) a white former police officer wandered into the crowd and started to get beat up. Black Lives Matter protestor Patrick Hutchinson saw that he was in peril and carried him to safety.
In Florence, people saying the Italian national anthem. Chicago they countered the sorrow with living on a prayer. And a Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell serenaded us with the impossible dream from his balcony. All over the world we found a way to lift each other up and connect the power of music.
And this summer, millions of people worldwide were willing to risk their lives amid the pandemic by stepping out and stepping up to protest systemic racism. The call for justice quality, inspiring movements of all ages, races, religions and creeds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We're celebrating heroes, but also the larger moments that define the biggest stories of this year and you can help. You can vote for this year's most inspiring moments at cnnheroes.com. Your choices will be presented one month from today, Sunday, December 13th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. During our 14th annual CNN Heroes an all star tribute hosted by me and my friend special co-host Kelly Ripa.
The news continues right now. I want to hand it over to Chris for "CUOMO PRIMETIME". Chris.
[21:00:02]
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Cooper has said that hard times, make strong people and it takes strong people to make good times.
